THE member for Indi has stressed to three federal government ministers the need to provide more help for bushfire-hit businesses in the North East.
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Helen Haines has spoken to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston of the trade fallout.
"I've heard what the small businesses have been telling me and raised it with three relevant bosses," Dr Haines said.
"They all heard my concerns and have given me the assurance they will look at them carefully and encouraged people to go along to Centrelink and explain their situation.
"What I can say with confidence is the government is listening, how they will respond, they will have to answer that."
Dr Haines wants more postcodes in the North East included on a list that allows businesses in those areas to defer tax payments until the end of May.
In a speech to parliament this week, Dr Haines outlined examples of how the bushfires had hurt primary producers and businesses.
They included Indigo Vineyard's Rob Hawkings who may lose income of $1.3 million due to smoke-tainted grapes and Diane Gibbons, who operates Bella's Cafe at Harrietville.
"She usually takes $700 a day," Dr Haines told parliament.
"When she called up a few weeks ago, on a day that was supposed to be in the busiest week of the year, she had taken in just $7.
"Steph Mannix, who runs the Beechworth on Bridge Motel, has seen all her bookings cancelled.
"She called me in late January frustrated that support for small business had been announced but was not yet accessible and Beechworth sat outside the zone of ATO deferrals."
Greens Upper House MP Cate Faehrman who drafted terms of reference for the inquiry said it would also consider the response of NSW Health to the hazard.
"This inquiry will provide more information regarding the impacts of long-term exposure to PM2.5 and what more the Government and the public can be doing to minimise the risks of long-term exposure to poor air quality," she said.
"We know that across the state there were shortages of P2 masks while emergency departments saw a spike in people presenting with respiratory issues."
